National Republican., 1887-01-17
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sea. How II relieves our anxiety as we read:
"Some on broken pieces Of the ship, and so 1t
came to pass they. all escaped safe to land
Having on previous occasions looked at the
other passengers, l. confine myself to-day to
an examination Of those who came In on
broken pieces Of the ship. There Is something
terest. lam not so much interested in those
that could swim. They got ashore as I ex-
pected. A mile OF water is not a very great
Undertaking for strong swimmer, or even two
miles are not. But / cannot stop thinking
about those on broken pieces of the ship. The
great gospel ship is the finest vessel of the
any craft ever constructed, and you could no
more wreck 1t than you could wreck the
throne of God Almighty. Iwish all the people
Eead come Aboard o me Ss not 5o
tempestuous or a chopped sea, but / could
promise safe arrival for all who took passage
on that Great Eastern--so called by me be.
cause its Commander came out of the east the
star of the east q badge of his authority.
But vast multitude do not take regular
passage. Their theology is broken in pieces,
habits are broken in pieces, and their worldly
and spiritual prospects are broken In pieces
and yet believe they are going to reach the
experience Of those people who are spoken of
ship"
those who cannot take the whole system of re-
ligion as we believe It, but who really believe
something, to come ashore on that one plank.
! do not underrate the value of great theo.
logical system, but where In all the Bible Is
there anything that says: Believe in John Call
vim and thou shalt be saved; or believe in
Arminius and thou shalt be saved; or..believe
in the Synod of bort and thou shalt be saved;
or believe in the thirty.nine articles and thou
shalt be saved? A man may be orthodox and
go to hell, or heterodox and go to heaven The
man who. In the deep affection OF his heart,
accepts Christ, Is saved, and the man who
does not accept Him Is lost.
! believe In both the Heidelberg and West
but YOU may believe in nothing they contain
except the one idea that Christ came 70 save
Sinners and that YOU are one of them and
on the grand Old ship, / would rather have You ti
get aboard, but II you can fad only piece of
wood as long as the human body, or piece as
wide as the outspread human arms and either
of them is piece of the cross, come In on that
piece. Tens OF thousands of people are to-day
kept out Of the kingdom of God because they
cannot believe everything.
am talking with man thoughtful about
his soul, who has lately travelled through New
England and passed the night at Andoyer. He
says 10 me, II cannot believe that In this life
will be another opportunity Of repentance after
DEATH" say to him, "My brother, what has
that to do with your Don't you realize that
the man who waits for another chance after
is a stark fool Had you not better take the
plank that is thrown TO- you now and head for
shore rather than wait for plank that may by
invisible hands be thrown to you after you are
dead2 Do as you please. but az for myself,
with pardon for all my sins. offered me now
and all the joys OF time and eternity. offered
me now, instantly take them rather than run
the risk OF such other chance as wise men
think they can peel of or twist out of a Scrip.
ture passage that has for all the Christian CEN
turies been interpreted another way.
You say: II do not like Princeton theology.
or New Haven theology or AndoVer theol-
ogy." do not ask you on board either OF these
great men-of war. their PORTFOLIOS filled with
the great siege guns Of Ecclesiastical battle.
But do ask YOU 10 take the one plank of the
Gospel that you do believe In aud strike out
for the pearl strung beach of heaven.
Says some other man: ~ would attend TO re-
llgion If | was quite sure about the doctrine of
election and free agency, but that mixes me
al up" These things used 70 bother me. but
say 10 myself SIf love Christ stand and live % a good, 90
honest. useful life, am elected to be saved,
and u do not love Christ and live bad life
Will be damned and all the theological SEM
tnhries OF the universe cannot make 1t any
different" l iloundeied long while in the
sea of sin and doubt and itwas as rough as the
Mediterranean on the fourteenth night when
there was mercy for sinner and that plank
took, and have been warming myself by the
bright fire on the shore for three decades.
While am talking 10 another man about his
soul he tells me. 81 do not become Christian
because do not believe there Is any hell at
ALL All don't your. Do all the people, Of
all Delleta ana no Del1elht III, OF good morals
and bad morals, go straight to happy heaven?
Do the holy and The debauched have the same
destination? AT midnlght in a hallway the
owner Of house and the burglar meet each
wounded, but the burglar died in five minutes,
and the owner Of the house lives weel
after. win the burglar be at the gates
In? VIII the debnuchee and the llberth9eI |
right in among the families of hePofthe |
wonder If IIerod IS playing on the baRsacred |
River of Life with the children he IN Wilkes
Iwonder II Charles Gujteau and nark. / do |
Booth are up there shooting At w